Dolores Erickson (born September 1935)
is an American
model and
artist
An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...
. She came to prominence by appearing as a model on a number of album covers, most notably ''
Whipped Cream & Other Delights
''Whipped Cream & Other Delights'' is a 1965 album by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, called "Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass" for this album, released on A&M Records. It is the band's fourth full album and arguably their most popular release.
This ...
'' (1965) by
Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.
Early life and modeling
Erickson, the oldest of eight children,
was raised first in
Port Angeles, Washington, before moving with her family to
Seattle, Washington
Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...
,
where she graduated from Cleveland High School in 1954.
She started her modeling career at 14
or 15
after winning a contest to model for the Seattle department store
Frederick & Nelson
Frederick & Nelson was a department store chain in the northwestern United States, based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891 as a furniture store, it later expanded to sell other types of merchandise. The company was acquired by Marshall Fiel ...
.
In 1954, she won the Miss Maritime
beauty pageant
A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...
and in 1955 won Miss Greenwood and competed to be
Seafair Queen.
She was also Miss Longshoreman.
With two fellow Seafair Princesses, future actresses
Dorothy Provine
Dorothy Michelle Provine (January 20, 1935 – April 25, 2010) was an American singer, dancer and actress. Born in 1935 in Deadwood, South Dakota, she grew up in Seattle, Washington, and was hired in 1958 by Warner Bros., after which she first ...
and
Dyan Cannon
Dyan Cannon (born Samille Diane Friesen; January 4, 1937) is an American actress, director, screenwriter, producer, and editor. Her accolades include a Saturn Award, a Golden Globe Award, three Academy Award nominations, and a star on the Ho ...
, Erickson visited
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
, where she found work for
Macy's
Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...
department store,
earning $600 weekly at age 19. She left the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...
to pursue a modeling career, signing with the
Ford Modeling Agency in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
Erickson did photo shoots for fashion layouts and for cosmetics companies such as
Max Factor
Max Factor is a line of cosmetics from Coty, Inc. It was founded in 1909 as Max Factor & Company by Max Factor, Sr., Maksymilian Faktorowicz.
Max Factor specialized in movie make-up. Until its 1973 sale for US$500 million (approximately $ billio ...
,
and appeared on 13
or 18
album covers for artists such as
the Kingston Trio (
''Sold Out''),
Cy Coleman
Cy Coleman (born Seymour Kaufman; June 14, 1929 – November 18, 2004) was an American composer, songwriter, and jazz pianist.
Life and career
Coleman was born Seymour Kaufman in New York City, United States, to Eastern European Jewish parents ...
(''Piano Witchcraft''),
Nat King Cole (''
Wild Is Love
''Wild Is Love'' is a 1960 concept album by the American singer and pianist Nat King Cole, arranged by Nelson Riddle. The album chronicles a narrator's attempts to pick up various women before he finds love at the conclusion of the album. The a ...
''), and
The Sandpipers (''
Guantanamera'').
The modeling led in early 1960 to
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
signing her as a contract player.
The studio later traded her to
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...
She was scheduled to appear in the film ''
The Pleasure of His Company'' and did have roles in ''
Love in a Goldfish Bowl
''Love in a Goldfish Bowl'' is a 1961 teen film directed by Jack Sher starring singing idols Tommy Sands and Fabian.
Plot
Gordon Slide and Blythe Holloway are two platonic best friends at a college, both from single-parent families. They are so ...
'' and
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in popular culture, pop culture ...
' ''
The Ladies Man''. She also appeared in episodes of the TV detective shows ''
Surfside 6'' and ''
77 Sunset Strip'' and the comedy-drama ''
Father Knows Best''.
''Whipped Cream & Other Delights''
Art director Peter Whorf, at the time engaged to Erickson's best friend, used Erickson on many
Capitol Records
Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...
shoots.
During this time, she became acquainted with trumpeter and A&M Records co-founder
Herb Alpert, and watched part of the recording of ''
The Lonely Bull
"The Lonely Bull (El Solo Toro)" is a song by Sol Lake recorded by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass among others. The song was the title track to the album '' The Lonely Bull'', released in December 1962.
The Herb Alpert single represents the fir ...
'' album in Alpert's garage in 1962.
The photo shoot for the cover of the 1965
Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass album ''
Whipped Cream & Other Delights
''Whipped Cream & Other Delights'' is a 1965 album by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, called "Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass" for this album, released on A&M Records. It is the band's fourth full album and arguably their most popular release.
This ...
'' — which remained in the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' top 10 for 61 weeks, and whose sexy cover became a cultural touchstone
— began in mid-morning, went on through the afternoon, and paid Erickson approximately $1,500 plus expenses.
The shoot took place in Whorf's studio, a converted garage. Erickson, 29 years old and three months pregnant, sat on a stool with a white Christmas blanket covering her from the waist down, and wore a bikini with the straps down. She then was covered with shaving cream, which (unlike whipped cream) would not melt under the hot photographic lights, with a dollop of whipped cream on her head.
As the shoot progressed, the shaving cream began to slide down her breasts slightly. Months later, Whorf sent her two outtakes.
When she saw the more risqué pictures, she took them over to a girlfriend's house and hid them behind the friend's refrigerator, not wanting her conservative husband to find them.
Initially, Alpert felt the cover image "was maybe pushing it a little too far ... I thought the censors would be down on it. But in 2006 it looks pretty darn tame."
Later years
In the 1970s, Erickson returned to college, studying art in
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
. She began painting, and owned the art gallery The Wild Deer, in
Kelso, Washington, for a decade. As of the mid-2000s, she continued to paint what one newspaper called "Impressionist-style works in her duplex on Columbia Heights."
Personal life
In the early 1960s, following a broken engagement, Erickson lived in Mexico for a year before returning to the U.S. in 1963.
Afterward, through
art director Peter Whorf, for whom she did many record-label photo shoots, she was introduced to her first husband,
A&M Records general manager Gil Friesen.
with whom she had a son, Brett.
The couple divorced, and in the 1970s she married attorney Bob Huffhines Jr. Bob and Dolores Erickson Huffhines were together for 35 years.
They resided in
Longview, Washington.
References
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erickson, Dolores
American artists
Female models from Washington (state)
Living people
1937 births
People from Longview, Washington
People from Port Angeles, Washington
People from Seattle
People from Kelso, Washington
21st-century American women